Tratie Dance
by idwir
Summary: She didn't want anyone to think she was staring at Travis and Nikki. Not that she was. Staring. At Travis and Nikki ... What the Hades? Was she jealous?
1. 030111

**I heart Tratie ! I hope you enjoy this because honestly, it sucks.**

Katie watched as Travis danced to a slow song, his hands on Nikki Grey's hips. Cammie Morgan stood next to her, and they joked about how Cammie wouldn't cry again because no boy had asked her to dance. Katie laughed, but as she watched Travis and Nikki talking and laughing, too, she couldn't help but notice she felt just the tiniest bit jealous.

She had pulled up to the dance with Kimmy Hayashi, daughter of Aphrodite, and Jenny Takerton, daughter of Hermes. It was a random community dance that all the Camp Half-blood kids had gotten special permission to attend.

As soon as the three girls got out of the car, Katie spotted Cammie Morgan and Nikki Grey, daughters of Athena, hanging out with their best friends Corey Ackerman and Kimmy's twin sister Kiley. Corey, being the daughter of Nike, had her hair pulled back in a ponytail and tennis shoes on.

"Katie!" Cammie called, a big smile and a skeptical look plastered to her face.

"My person!" Corey squealed. The other two girls smiled and waved.

Katie smiled back and said, "Hey! My person!" Katie, Kimmy and Jenny joined the long line of teenagers walking towards the building the dance was being held in. Corey's younger brother pushed Katie gently.

Katie turned around and said, "Carlos!" She shoved him back and they both laughed.

"Hey," Brian said in a low mocking voice and poked Katie in the side. "Hey, Kimmy. Hey, Jenny."

Inside, people were dancing. Katie hated dancing. She sat down on the side with Pollux. He complained that his friends still were not at the dance. Travis, Connor and Bradley Lyre were running late.

"Look," Pollux suddenly sat up straighter. "There they are!" Katie turned her head.

"Oh, yeah," she murmured. "Finally." Katie and Pollux both stood up and walked over near the entrance.

"Finally!" Pollux exclaimed. Greetings were exchanged and the three new arrivals sat down, while the other two stood in front of them.

"I think everyone should sing 'Happy Birthday' to Bradley," stated Connor.

Katie glanced over at Bradley. "Oh, yeah! It's your birthday! Happy birthday, Bradley!"

Bradley looked around, a confused but knowing grin on his face. "Whose birthday is it? Hmmm? It's not my birthday!"

"Sixteen!" Katie smiled. When Bradley refused to admit to his birthday, the boys began talking about video games. Katie felt like sitting, so she sat in front of Travis.

He groaned. "Don't do that!" Katie glanced up from fixing her skirt.

"Do what?" she asked innocently, although she knew exactly what he meant.

"You'll make us look bad." Travis stood up. "Here. Sit."

Katie shook her head. "Then you won't have anywhere to sit."

"Just … please." Travis rolled his eyes.

So Katie obliged. "You sure?" For all the pranks Travis had pulled on Katie, he actually was quite the gentleman. In fact, the more Katie thought about it, the more she realized all the times he wouldn't let her carry something big or heavy if a boy was around, especially himself. Or if he did let her carry it, he made sure she knew he wasn't happy about it.

There was the time when Travis needed help putting away a table and Pollux and Connor were supposed to be the ones helping. They couldn't stop arguing about who should help Travis, so Katie had simply walked over and picked up the other end. Travis had then delved into a protesting speech. "Oh, gosh. No, Katie, You're making us look bad. C'mon."

Katie had protested back. "You are helping, so you do not look bad."

Then there was that time …

Someone was tugging Katie's hand. "What?" she snapped. "Oh, Jenny, Kimmy."

"Let's dance!" both girls shouted. Katie shook her head and tried to pull her hand away, but Jenny's grip was too tight. Kimmy grabbed her other hand and both girls dragged Katie over to where Cammie, Nikki, Kiley and Corey were dancing in a small circle.

"Hey!" they laughed. When Katie just stood there, they pushed her.

"I don't dance," Katie complained. At the last dance they had all been to, Katie had stood on the side talking to Carlos and his friend Josiah the whole time.

"Just move." Katie tried jumping up and down, and shaking her shoulders. After two seconds, she stood immovable once more. A slow song came on and the group of girls ran off to hide behind some pillars. Cammie pulled Katie aside.

"So, Nikki hasn't talked to Travis since she asked him to go with her to our senior prom, and Kiley hasn't talked to Bradley." Cammie informed Katie.

Katie sighed. She already knew. Travis had told her what was going on and she thought it was stupid. They're going to prom together, why can't they talk to each other?

"We need to get them to talk," Cammie continued her irritated rant.

"Wait, are you and Geoffrey talking?" Katie interrupted.

"Yes, we don't talk about prom, but at least we talk."

Katie shrugged her shoulders. "Well, we could get Travis to come dance with us."

"That's what I was thinking, except I don't talk to him that much, so …" Cammie trailed off.

"Sure." Katie ran off and skidded to a stop in front of Travis. Her hands on his knees she said in her best you've-got-no-choice voice, "You need to talk to Nikki. Now."

Travis stood up and followed Katie to where her group of friends was starting to dance to a fast song. He went and stood by Nikki and started dancing and talking to her. Cammie high fived Katie.

Soon another slow song came on and Travis asked Nikki to dance with him. Cammie and Katie went off to hide behind the pillars. Katie glanced at the dance floor, but quickly looked away. She didn't want anyone to think she was staring at Travis and Nikki. Not that she was. Staring. At Travis and Nikki.

"So, I'm totally not gonna cry because no one asked me to dance," said Cammie. Katie shot her a look that told her she had no clue what she was talking about. Then she remembered. "You know, cause the last dance."

"Oh, yeahhh," Katie said and they both laughed.

When another fast song came on, Katie managed to slip away without Cammie noticing. She went and stood in a corner of the big rectangle shaped room and crossed her arms over her chest. Ten minutes passed, fifteen, some adult chaperones would come and talk to Katie, then go back to patrolling the room for some awful teenage behavior that needed to be stopped. Katie leaned back against the wall and rolled her eyes.

Dances were so stupid.

Then she saw Travis walk towards her.

"Hey, why aren't you dancing?"

"I don't dance." Katie played with the ends of her falling curls.

Travis grinned at her. "Me neither, but I'm dancing! Come on." He tugged on her hair lightly, then pulled her forward by her hand.

The two of them walked back over to the group of girls. Just then a Justin Bieber song came on and Katie looked over at Cammie who was squealing.

At the same time, Cammie and Katie announced to the group of friends, "We're totally going to see the Justin Bieber movie! You guys should totally come!" Cammie was a huge Justin Bieber fan, but Katie barely knew who he was and had no opinion of him. The rest of the group looked at them and then started mocking them and Justin Bieber.

"Really? You're gonna waste your money on that?"

"He is kinda cute," Katie said and twirled her hair around her finger.

"He sounds like a girl! Like, seriously." Travis argued. Katie rolled her eyes.

Tuning them out, Katie and Cammie began singing with the song. They all had fun and danced stupidly.

"Katie," Cammie said. "We need to get Bradley."

Katie ran over to Bradley and with the same tone she had used on Travis, told him, "Dance with Kiley. Now."

He sighed and got up to follow Katie over to Kiley. Perfect timing, too because a slow song came on. A few songs later, and another slow song was on and Kiley was dancing with Travis instead of Bradley. Once again, Cammie and Katie went off behind the pillars. She saw Kiley giggling at something Travis had said, and was reminded of when Travis had a huge crush on Kiley, but never really talked to her.

Katie felt hollowness in her chest. What the Hades? Was she jealous? Sure, she and Travis were somewhat friends now, and they hung out a lot, but that didn't mean she liked him … did it?

Before she could ponder it any further, Cammie said, "I want an ice pop!" So they downed four each before the last song of the dance came on. Cammie left Katie to go find her three friends, so Katie began wandering around looking for Kimmy and Jenny.

"Travis." Katie said.

"Hey, you should go get one of these," he said as he began eating an ice pop.

"I already had four." Katie admitted.

"Well, go get another one!"

"Come with me," Katie smiled. Travis quickly downed the rest of his ice pop and followed Katie to the snack counter. A lady handed her two ice pops.

"Which one?" she asked Travis. He studied the two ice pops – one green, one pink. Katie took the opportunity to study Travis' face and think about the feelings of jealousy she might have felt earlier that night.

He was kind of cute. With a mess of curly brown hair, arched eyebrows and a carefree attitude, he definitely had snagged some cute girlfriends in the past. So what would he see in Katie? Katie was boring. She too had brown hair, but hers was straight and boring. She liked to garden. She found it exciting and fun, but a boy like Travis Stoll would think it was an activity only old ladies participated in.

"I'll take that one." Travis interrupted Katie's thoughts and took the green one from her right hand. They began walking around the room again as people cleaned up their things.

"Have you seen Jenny or Kimmy?" Katie asked. "They were my ride."

Travis shook his head absently and looked around. He grabbed Pollux's arm as he walked by. "Hey, have you seen Jenny or Kimmy?"

"I think they left." He said. That confused Katie. They would never leave her unless they knew she had a ride. Seeing the look on her face, Pollux told her. "Someone may have told them you left with Travis." He looked between the two.

"Oh, okay, thanks," Katie said. Now she had to find a way to get back to camp. The camp buses had left an hour ago with all the younger campers.

Pollux looked at Travis. "I'm gonna give Connor and Bradley a ride …" He gave Travis a meaningful stare.

Travis thought for a minute, "Okay, ummm, I'll see you back at camp."

"Aren't you coming to the mortal party not too far from here?"

"Oh, man, I forgot. Maybe next time? I have some … things to take care of back at camp." Travis put on an apologetic expression.

"Sure, I'll see you two later," Pollux looked at them strangely.

"Hey, Katie," Travis looked at her.

"Hmmm?" she asked, still looking around the room, hoping to find someone who would give her a ride, or at least acting like she was. Really, she was hoping Travis would offer to drive her.

"Do you wanna ride with me?"


	2. 052111

**Thanks for the reviews and corrections**** Please feel free to read, mock, criticize, review, etc my stories anytime. I am totally writing more!:):)**

**Knight-Emma – ****You're really sweet. Thank you:):)**

"So, what do you need to take care of back at camp?" Katie asked Travis as they pulled up to a red light.

He glanced over at her and after a moment shrugged his shoulders. "Stuff." His fingers tapped the steering wheel uneasily. He looked up at the light, willing it to turn green.

"What kind of stuff?" Katie sighed. _Really? Stuff?_She moved one leg out from under her and drew her knee to her chest. Just then a thought occurred to her. "It better not be another prank on the Demeter cabin. Because if it is, I swear to the gods, Travis Stoll … I mean, seriously? Your pranks are _not_ funny. If it's another prank, I'm getting out of the car right now and walking the rest of the way to camp. That one prank …"

"Katie! Shut up!"

"Wh-what?" She turned to face him, wide-eyed. Then her eyes narrowed. "No! I will not shut up! Do you think I like it when my siblings complain to me 24/7 about you and Connor? Because I don't. I mean, your pranks irritate me, but my siblings complaining about them all the time? That's what really annoys me. Not your stupid, childish pranks."

This was like the longest red light ever!

"Katie, seriously. I'm not going back to camp for that tonight. Okay?" Finally, the light turned green.

Suddenly, she got very quiet. "Oh, okay." Katie looked out the window at the dark shapes that blurred by. The car was silent.

Travis glanced over at her. He cleared his throat. "So, you really don't think my pranks are that annoying?"

Katie let out the breath she hadn't realized she was holding and stifled a giggle. "They aren't that bad to deal with."

Travis feigned hurt, throwing his hand over his chest. "I work really hard to come up with complex plans that will have you screaming my name for hours, and now come to find out, I'm not the one who causes the screaming."

"Well, you cause it indirectly."

Travis shrugged. "I'll take it."

After another silence, Katie had to ask again, "What are you going back to camp for? Come on, Travis. I won't tell anyone. Are you actually being responsible and going back to camp instead of partying all night? Hmm," Katie tapped her chin. "I know. It's a girl, isn't it?" Travis began blushing. Feeling that hollowness in her chest again, Katie gasped. "It is a girl! Who is it?"

"It's not a girl, okay?" Travis protested.

Katie wiggled her eyebrows at Travis. "So, who's the lucky guy?"

"What?" A confused look passed over Travis' face. "Oh, no! I'm not like that Katie! I mean, I don't have a problem with people like that, but I'm just not like that."

Katie began laughing.

"Stop laughing at me!" He glanced over at her.

An idea formed in Katie's head. But it was a stupid idea right? "So, if it's not a girl and it's not a guy you're going back for …"

"What?" Travis asked when Katie didn't finish her sentence.

"Nothing," she mumbled, but then changed her mind. "Okay, so the other day, I was hanging out with some of the girls from the Aphrodite cabin …"

"I thought you hated most of those girls."

"That's not the point. Don't interrupt me." Travis nodded and Katie continued. "Anyways, so I was hanging out with some of the girls from the Aphrodite cabin and this topic came up. 'Can a boy and a girl ever just be friends with benefits?' And in my opinion, I totally think it's totally possible to just have fun with a boy without totally falling in love with him, I mean, I'm totally right, right?"

"Totally."

"So, um," Katie's cheeks reddened. "I was thinking …"

"You were thinking … what, Katie?"

"I said not to interrupt me!"

Travis grinned. "I know, but I think I also know what you were thinking."

Katie raised an eyebrow. "Oh, really?"

"Yup."

"So enlighten me and tell me what I was thinking."

"You were thinking that we should totally test your theory out."

Katie cleared her throat. "Um, yeah?"

Travis didn't say anything.

Katie felt embarrassed. He didn't want to. That's why he wasn't talking to her anymore. "It was stupid. Just, can we pretend I never said anything?"

Travis swerved off the main road and pulled up to an abandoned clearing. "No."

Katie felt her heart fall. She looked out at the trees they were surrounded by, at the few small patches of night sky poking through the trees, anything but him. He didn't want to do it. She understood. She glanced at him. Then why was he looking at her like that? Why was he pulling her face towards his? Before he could kiss her, she stopped him and said, "You just said no."

"Yeah."

Katie was confused. "Then why …"

"No, we can't pretend you never said anything," Travis unbuckled his seat belt. "Because I …" He lifted his body over the gear shift. "I think it's a great idea." And then he was kissing Katie roughly, straddling her. He had one hand on her neck, the other trailing down her arm. She arched her back and rested her head on the seat. When the seat fell back suddenly, Katie squealed.

"Travis!" she screamed, punching his arm.

"Hey, that's not exactly a turn on!" Travis growled, biting her lip a little too hard.

"Ow! That either." Katie pulled back and glared at him.

Travis sighed. "Really, Katie? Are we gonna do this or not?"

Sorry it's been so long since I've updated! I couldn't decide what to write and when I did write, I didn't like anything I wrote. This kinda sucks, I know, but I feel bad about not updating, so here it is.


	3. 072311

**Thanks for the reviews:):)**

Kimmy and Jenny spotted Katie the next morning before breakfast.

"Katie!" They called over to her, smiling. Katie walked towards them.

"Is it just me, or is Katie walking funny?" Jenny asked Kimmy, her head tilted slightly.

Kimmy tilted her head in the same way that Jenny was and her mouth formed a perfect "o". "She is walking funny."

"Hi, guys," Katie smiled at them. Then, "What's wrong? Do I have something on my face?" She tried to wipe at her face with the sleeve of her sweater.

Kimmy put her arm around Katie's shoulders and held down her hand. "Oh, there's nothing on your face, but you do look absolutely exhausted or were you crying. Were you out late?"

"No, I came back to camp right after the dance." Katie's smile fell as she gingerly touched her puffy eyes. "Why?"

Jenny studied Katie and she finally realized what Kimmy had. "Travis didn't get home until after midnight. Didn't he give you a ride home?"

"Yeah, but we went in the opposite direction of camp by accident and there was no place to turn around."

"You don't find after midnight to be late?"

"Not really." Katie looked at the two girls. "So, anyway. I'm starved. Let's go eat." She shrugged off Kimmy's arm and walked quickly to the dining pavilion.

Travis was sitting at his table eating eggs. When he saw Katie walk in he wiggled his eyebrows at her. Katie rolled her eyes and sat stiffly at her table. She decided she would eat cereal like she did everyday just like all of her other siblings. Katie looked around and caught both Kimmy and Jenny staring at her from their tables. She tried to smile at them and they quickly smiled back and looked down at their own food.

Katie had barely eaten two bites of her cereal when she saw Travis get up to leave, glancing at her. Immediately after, she saw Jenny follow Travis.

_'Hm, that's strange.'_ Katie thought. _'Travis is Jenny's least favorite brother. Why would she follow him out?'_

Katie took her time finishing her breakfast, so she was the last demigod in the pavilion. She was supposed to go to the strawberry fields, but instead she headed to the Demeter cabin. When she got there, she wasn't surprised to find Melissa there.

Melissa was one of her many siblings, but unlike the rest of Demeter's children, Melissa was into wearing the right outfits, dating the cute boy. Katie had heard stories about her sister's many promiscuous adventures. You could say Melissa fit in more with the Aphrodite girls. Katie didn't have a problem with the Aphrodite girls, of course, as she was friends with some of them, but she did have a little bit of a problem with one of Demeter's children not acting like a Demeter child.

Melissa was putting on makeup when she should be down at the fields, helping to tend the strawberries.

"Katie!" Melissa used her fake excitement voice. "You look …" She trailed off having nothing nice to say about Katie's wearisome appearance.

Since Katie was the head counselor of the Demeter cabin, she usually put up with Melissa's cruel demeanor and treated her like she treated the rest of her siblings, but today Katie was tired and sore and needed to lie down. "You're supposed to be down at the strawberry fields, Melissa." Katie snapped.

Melissa glared. "So are you." She smacked her lips together and glanced at herself in the mirror one last time.

"I'm just getting my gloves," Katie said and began rummaging through her usually organized gardening bag. "What's your excuse? You had to do your makeup, so you won't have to work as long and hard as everyone else, and just in case Bob walks by the strawberry fields when he's supposed to be at archery?"

"It's Bryce and whatever, I'm going now." She walked to the door, then turned back to face Katie. "By the way, I don't know how much it would help, but you could benefit from putting some makeup on." Then she was out the door, making her long legs move in a way that would make it look like her butt was swaying.

"Ugh," Katie groaned, throwing herself back on to her bed. She could feel her eyes drooping and she promised herself she would only close her eyes for a minute, but before she could even close her eyes, there was a knock at the door. "Ugh!" Katie groaned again, dragging herself out of bed.

She swung the door open, ready to bite someone's head off.

Travis pushed her inside and quickly closed the door behind him. He tried to kiss Katie, but she pulled away from him.

"What's wrong?" Travis asked.

"Nothing." Katie said. "I just gotta get to the fields." She went back to looking for her gloves.

"Oh, okay." Travis replied glumly. "Your eyes are puffy. Were you crying or something?"

"No," Katie huffed and walked to the door without her gloves. "I gotta go." She ran out the door and into the forest.

**Hope you liked it:):)**

**Disclaimer : I don't own anything.**


	4. 111411

**Sorry, it's been so long.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything.**

Katie always worked hard in the strawberry fields, but today she worked herself to exhaustion. When she heard the horn blow to tell them it was time for dinner, she wanted to keep on working, but Miranda pulled her to her feet and told her she needed to eat. She considered not going to dinner, but she didn't know if Travis would take that as an invitation, so she wandered to her cabin to clean up and went to dinner with the rest of her siblings.

At dinner, she stared at her plate the whole time, avoiding looking at anyone, including Jenny and Kimmy, and especially Travis. When they went up to give offerings, she barely muttered Demeter and almost threw her whole plate into the fire. At the camp fire, she didn't hear any announcements Chiron made. She couldn't bring herself to sing any of the camp songs. When she tripped over a log on her way to her seat, a tiny flame leaped in front of her, and did not change color while everyone sang and the center fire grew high. She figured that's what she must look like on the inside. Dim.

Mercifully bed time came around. She began walking to her cabin by herself.

Someone gently banged into her. She muttered her apologies and continued staring at the ground. The someone grabbed her shoulder. "Hey, Katie. What's wrong?"

The voice made her jump. "Nothing." she barely opened her mouth.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, Travis, I'm just tired, okay?" she snapped and then practically sprinted the last ten yards to her cabin door. She slammed it shut behind her.

"Katie, what's wrong?" One of her sisters asked.

"Nothing!" Katie snapped. "Will everyone just stop asking me that? I'm just tired, okay?" Her whole cabin stared. She ran to the shower and turned it on. She hopped in, not noticing how cold it was and giant sobs racked her body. She heard Miranda knock on the door, but she ignored her.

When she could finally calm herself down to just hiccups and was sure everyone else would be asleep, she dressed and crawled into her bed, falling almost instantaneously asleep.

**What do you think is wrong with Katie? I would love to hear what you all think. Who knows, maybe it'll give me an idea for the next chapter.**

**I know this was the shortest thing ever, but I hope you liked it. **


	5. 122711

Travis was determined to find out what was wrong with Katie. It had been almost two weeks since he gave her a ride home from the dance and she was still avoiding him. She kept saying she wasn't, but he knew she was. And people were talking. Speculation on why Katie was always moping around these days were passing from cabin to cabin.

Travis heard Pollox telling one of the other campers, "Perhaps she needs some wine?" He also heard one of his siblings ask Nico if one of Katie's relatives had died recently. He personally went around asking each of his siblings if any of them had played any pranks on the Demeter cabin lately, but they all told him they didn't, so he went to ask Miranda if any of his siblings had played pranks on her cabin. She was surprised and shocked to realize her own answer was no.

He was utterly bewildered. No one knew what was wrong with Katie. He didn't have a clue. Then he heard the Aphrodite cabin's suggestion.

"A boy."

All the other cabins rolled their eyes at the thought. Katie Gardener upset over a boy? The idea was ridiculous. Until Travis thought about it. Had he done something to upset Katie? He went back to that night in the car he "borrowed" for the night.

_Travis was waiting in the driver's seat while Katie finished taking care of herself in the back seat. She had started bleeding, so Travis zipped up his pants and climbed in to the front to find her some tissues or something in the glove compartment._

_ "You okay?" Travis asked her, glancing up at the rearview mirror._

_ Katie forced out a laugh. "Yeah, of course."_

_ After a few minutes Travis asked her, "Are you gonna get back in front seat?" She only had to put on her panties after all, so what was taking her so long?_

_ Without a word Katie opened the back door and got out on the driver's side. While he was waiting Travis thought about how he loved girls who wore dresses for easy access. Katie got back into the car and Travis glanced at her. Then looked at her again._

_ "Hey, Katie, it looks like you bit right through your lip."_

_ "Oh." She quickly took another tissue out of the glove compartment and put it to her mouth._

_ They drove the rest of the way back to Camp Half-Blood in silence. He dropped her off at the hill and went to go ditch the car somewhere. _

The next time he saw Katie she was avoiding his gaze at breakfast. She still wouldn't even look at him. If that wasn't bad enough, his sister Jenny cornered him and asked him what was going on between him and Katie. People weren't supposed to know anything about him and Katie. She would be pissed. An idea formed in Travis' head.

If Jenny couldn't get Travis to admit something was going on between him and Katie, then maybe she had asked Katie and Katie had assumed Travis was telling people about them.

He went to go find Katie. Luckily, he knew where she would most likely be and he was right. When Travis found her, she was putting some tools away in a gardening shed near the strawberry fields.

"Hey," he said.

Katie jumped at the sound of his voice, and didn't answer him.

"Katie." Travis tried again.

Katie pushed passed him. "Sorry. I'm late. I've got to go." She was gone.

Travis sighed. Seriously, this was getting old. Maybe she was being a tease. Suggest having sex with no strings attached, do it once, then never again? He just wanted to know what was up with the way Katie was acting lately.

Travis rolled his eyes and went to go eat dinner.

At dinner, Chiron had an announcement. All the kids who had been at camp for three years or more had the opportunity to go visit a few historic landmarks for demigods. Things that had to do with their culture. They would be taking three vans to their first stop the next morning. Annabeth was in charge of the trip and had made the van assignments and room assignments for the week they would be gone. The rest of the campers would stay behind with their regular activities watched by Mr. D.

Travis had to talk to Annabeth.

After dinner, Travis walked with Connor down to the camp fire.

"Travis, what's up with you lately, man?" Connor asked his brother. He nudged Travis with his elbow when Travis didn't answer.

"Hm?" Travis asked, looking around absently.

"I said, 'what's up with you lately?'" Connor said.

"What do you mean?"

Connor rolled his eyes. "You're not all here. You don't play pranks as often and you're always staring at Katie Gardner and asking about why she's so mopey these days."

Travis glared at his younger brother. "And?"

"Why do you care? You used to just be happy pranking her cabin and making her life miserable."

Travis groaned. "I care because I'm not the one making her miserable." Or am I? "I care because when she mopes around all day, crying, it's not because of me." Or is it? "I mean who am I if not the sole creator of misery and hardships of Katie Gardner?" Travis turned towards Connor and grabbed his shoulders.

Travis' voice rose and he shook Connor. "Who am I, Connor? I don't know who I am!"

Connor simply shoved Travis and walked away, rolling his eyes.

Travis smirked. He sat where he was standing and looked around at all the campers there. His eyes landed on Katie and he knew that if he looked back five minutes later she would not be there. Next he found Annabeth. He had to talk to her before he went to bed tonight, but he wanted to talk to her privately, where no one else could hear.

He waited until the camp fire was done and everyone else had left. He helped pick up any belongings that may have been left behind accidentally even though he normally wouldn't, but Annabeth and Percy were the last ones at the camp fire, and he really needed to talk to her.

"Hey, Travis," Annabeth said. "Thanks for helping."

Percy looked at Travis. "Yeah, usually it's just Annabeth and me."

"Mhmm," Travis said. "Actually, I was just hoping I could talk to Annabeth about something."

"About what?" Annabeth asked, genuinely curious.

"Just something." Travis said, distractedly.

Percy got the hint that Travis wanted to talk to _just_ Annabeth and said, "Okay, then. I'll see you both tomorrow morning." He leaned down to kiss Annabeth. "Goodnight," he called over his shoulder. "Try not to get eaten."

It was suddenly quiet. Annabeth studied Travis for a moment, wondering what he possibly wanted to talk about. Sure she knew him pretty well as they had both been at the camp longer than most, but she didn't really talk to him, or hang out with him.

"Travis?"

He looked at her. "Yeah?"

"What did you want to talk about?" She looked at him, still curious.

"Oh, right." He sat down and gestured for her to do the same. "You're in charge of the whole trip like room assignments and stuff, right?"

Annabeth sighed. "Travis, I am not putting you in a room with one of the Aphrodite girls." She glared at him.

"That's not what I want."

"Oh? You have a girlfriend? I'm sorry, but I can't put you in a room with her either." She got up to leave.

"She's not my girlfriend."

Annabeth stopped and stared down at Travis. "Then what do you want Travis? You know the rules are no co-ed rooming unless you're on a quest."

"Can't you put down that you're rooming with her and I'm rooming with Percy and then we can switch rooms?" Travis asked, his voice turning a bit whiny.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Travis. If she's not an Aphrodite girl and she's not your girlfriend, who in the world is she and why do you want to share a room with her?"

"Katie Gardner."

Annabeth resumed her glaring. "I am not putting you in a room with Katie Gardner. In case you haven't noticed, Katie hasn't been herself lately and I don't think she is up to dealing with whatever prank you have planned for her. Goodnight, Travis."

Travis grabbed Annabeth's arm and put his face close to hers. "In case _you_ haven't noticed, I haven't played any pranks on Katie or the Demeter cabin in two weeks! Neither has anyone else from my cabin. I even asked Miranda."

Annabeth pushed Travis away from her and pulled her arm out of his grasp. "Then tell me what you want with her, Travis. Do you like her? Are trying to get with her?"

Travis groaned at the accusation. "No, I do not like Katie Gardner. I just need to talk to her about … something."

"Then find her in the strawberry fields."

"I've _tried_." Travis grumbled. "She's avoiding me."

Annabeth gasped as an idea dawned on her. "Are_ you_ the reason Katie's upset?" She poked Travis in the chest.

"No!" Travis cried indignantly. "I mean, maybe. I don't know. That's what I'm trying to figure out."

"I'm not forcing her to share a room with you," Annabeth told Travis. "Find another way to talk to her."

"Please." Travis tried.

"I'm sorry, Travis, but you haven't given me a good reason why I should let you have five _minutes_ alone with her, let alone five _nights_." Annabeth studied Travis' face.

He looked like he was contemplating something. Finally, Annabeth gave up on waiting. "Curfew is in three minutes. We need to get to our cabins." She started walking away again.

Travis sighed, his eyes closed shut tight. "Wait. We had sex."

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I don't know. Please feel free to give me an opinion or suggestion.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything.**


	6. 031212

**Thanks for the reviews ! I started writing this a couple of months ago, then I lost the flashdrive it was saved on. Just found it today! Sorry.**

"Now I expect you all to act like responsible adults, and you know the rules and where to meet in thirty minutes." Chiron said, dismissing the half-bloods to look around the museum. He had already taken them to the main exhibits he wanted to talk to them about and he had already been through this very museum too many times to count, so he decided to get some fresh air outside while the kids finished looking around.

Katie wandered around aimlessly, trying to avoid Travis. She stopped to admire a statue of her mother. Demeter was beautiful, and Katie asked herself how she came out looking so plain.

Annabeth saw Katie hanging around a statue of Demeter, nervously peaking around corners every couple of minutes. After Travis had explained the fwb thing he had going on with Katie, she had went back to her cabin to consider if Travis was telling the truth and why that might be relevant to what was wrong with Katie. It seemed like Travis genuinely wanted to find out what was wrong with Katie, but it could just be so he could sleep with her again. If it wasn't for that, then why did he care so much?It just didn't make sense.

Why was Katie so upset about sleeping with Travis? Annabeth asked herself. Was that even what Katie was upset about?She decided to see if she could get Katie to talk about it. Maybe it would help.

"Hey, Katie," Annabeth said, walking up to her. Katie gave her a small smile and quickly turned back to the statue. "So I guess we're roommates!" Annabeth mentally slapped herself. Of course they were roommates, Annabeth had made the assignments.

"Yeah," Katie spoke up. "I was kind of wondering why. I mean, I like you and all, but usually we room by parent."

Annabeth scratched her head. "Yeah, but thanks to your cabin's excellent gardening skills, we had a little extra money, and Chiron said cabin counselors could have one roommate instead of three, so it just made sense to room counselors together."

Annabeth felt awkward. She wasn't the caring type. Why was she even trying to help Katie? They were barely friends; Annabeth only had three real friends. Percy. Thalia. Grover. She didn't know how to approach Katie on the topic. It wasn't like she was some sex expert.

"So. Katie."

Katie's eyes widened. "I have to go. Maybe we can talk later." Then she disappeared around the corner.

* * *

It was late by the time the half-bloods got to their hotel. They all piled out of the vans and waited in the lobby as Chiron checked them all in. He passed out the key cards according to Annabeth's charts and bid them all a goodnight. Once again he warned them to be good and follow the rules. The counselors would be in charge of keeping watch and patrolling the halls as Chiron had to get back to camp for a few hours.

"Annabeth," Percy grabbed her by her hips as she walked by. "Let's switch roommates." He pressed a kiss to her mouth.

Annabeth pulled away and said, "Sorry, not tonight." Seeing the disappointed look on his face she elaborated. "I need to talk to Katie."

"What about?" he asked.

"Don't worry about it." Annabeth looked at him.

"Okay," he kissed her again and grabbed her suitcase to help her up to her room. "Why did you put me with Travis Stoll?"

When all the kids were up on the thirtieth floor, Annabeth called for attention. "Everyone, get to your rooms and get ready for bed. Percy and I will be coming around in an hour to make sure lights are out. Remember, we're in a hotel, so try not to make too much noise. No bouncing on beds, knocking on walls and absolutely no switching rooms. Ares cabin is in charge of keeping watch tonight."

As the last of the kids closed their doors, Annabeth whispered to the counselors, "Alright, Katie and I will come to get all of you in about an hour."

"What?" Katie asked. Of course she knew that some of the kids would get together every night they were away from camp and play drinking games or whatever, but she had never been one to participate.

"Come on, Katie," Annabeth dragged Katie off to their room, which was third to the last on the left, but located diagonally across of the stairs.

"I'm gonna take a shower," Annabeth said, pulling off her shirt. She called over her shoulder, "Pick whichever bed you want."

The door closed and Katie was by herself. She picked the bed farthest from the door and curled up on it.

Soon she was being shaken awake by Annabeth. "Katie, go shower. You'll feel better." Katie opened her eyes and peered at Annabeth who had a towel wrapped around her body and a towel wrapped around her head. Would a shower really make her feel better? She closed her eyes and thought for a minute. When she opened her eyes again, Annabeth was naked. Katie briefly wondered why she couldn't look like Annabeth. She had beautiful curly blonde hair. Intelligent gray eyes. All demigods were decently fit. Their training made sure of that. Since Katie worked mostly in the strawberry fields though, she wasn't as muscular as a lot of the other kids. You definitely couldn't see her abs like you could see Annabeth's.

Katie pulled herself out of the bed and walked into the bathroom. Maybe I should just start dating girls. Most of them were nicer and would care more about your feelings, unless they were the daughters of Ares. She shook her head. She liked boys too much, she couldn't do it.

Katie turned on the shower, got in and just sat there, letting the water run over her head, down her face. She hugged her knees and rested her forehead against them.

There was a knock at the door. She didn't know how long she had been sitting there. "Katie," Annabeth peeked her head in. "Everyone's getting impatient."

"Sorry," Katie called back. "I'll get out now."

"Take your time," Annabeth told her. "I just wanted to let you know that they're all coming over. I didn't want to go through your things, so I'm leaving you something of mine to where when you're done. I also left some makeup on the counter. I wasn't sure if you wanted it or not. Come out when you're ready."

The door closed.

Katie sighed. She unfolded her limbs and stood up, realizing she had forgotten her shampoo and other bath things when she came into the bathroom. She turned off the water, and listened. There were no noises coming from outside the bathroom door and she heard no talking. She hated hotel shampoo and conditioner and body wash. She grabbed a towel, wrapped it around herself and ran out of the bathroom door which faced both beds. Her whole attention was focused on her suitcase. It was between her bed and the windows. She got to it and unzipped it.

Someone coughed uncomfortably. Katie looked up and swore to herself. "What are you doing here?" she shrieked.

Travis blushed and tried to avoid looking at her. "Um, Annabeth and Percy needed a minute alone, so she told me to wait here, so I could answer the door for everyone else." His answer was rushed, he was turning redder by the second. "I'm … I've been meaning to talk to you."

"Now?" she screamed. He gave her a look and she knew he wouldn't just let her go. Katie sighed. "I don't want to talk, Travis." She was warm, despite the goosebumps breaking out on her wet skin.

"Katie, just, I want to know what's wrong," Travis pleaded with her. He walked around her bed to crouch beside her.

She sighed and stood up, trying to get back to the bathroom, but he stood up to block her way. "No, you don't, Travis."

"Why are you acting like this?" Travis questioned, his voice laced with confusion.

"Like what?" Katie tried to play dumb.

"You know what, Katie. Everyone at camp is talking about it. Every cabin has their own theory. I just want to know. Was it something I did?" Travis asked.

Katie rolled her eyes. "Why do you care so much, Travis? It's not your responsibility to make sure I'm okay. I'm a big girl, Travis. We're not even really friends."

"The way you're acting is confusing, Katie! You ask me if I want to have casual sex with you …"

"So this is about sex? You just want to know what's wrong, so we can have sex again?" Katie cried. She knew Travis was insensitive, but really? It kind of pissed Katie off, but it also hurt. "Fine!"

"Katie, that's not what I …"

Katie dropped her towel. "Right now, Travis. Go for it." She sounded defeated. She angrily wiped the tears from her eyes. Why did she have to cry?

Travis squinted his eyes at her, his head slightly tilted. He bent down and picked up Katie's towel. He awkwardly wrapped the towel around her shoulders. Katie sank to the floor and leaned against the wall, tears rolling down her cheeks. Travis crouched beside her. He went to wipe her tears, but she turned her head.

The door opened and Travis and Katie could hear voices. Those voices stopped as soon as the door was fully open. Annabeth stood in front of everyone, the key card held in her hand, her mouth slightly agape. Katie hid her face and Travis stood up. Even he was at a loss for words. He looked back at Katie, and remembering she was basically naked, angled his body in front of hers.

Percy took in the situation and quickly pulled the door shut, taking everyone else with him. Hearing the door slam, Katie shot up and ran back into the bathroom. Screw smelling like apples, she would just use the hotel toiletries.

**So. That's not what I originally intended to write. I was going to make them play Truth or Dare or something. I know their conversation isn't that great either. Hope that wasn't too scattered.x**


	7. 071812

**I know I suck at updating. I'm sorry !**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything.**

Katie squeezed her eyes shut against the light that was streaming in through the window. When that didn't help, she flipped over and flung a pillow over her head. She didn't want to get up. She couldn't face the rumors that surely had been passed from room to room last night. If she was embarrassed before, today she would feel humiliated all day, even if no one said anything to her.

"Katie, you've gotta get up. Everyone else is downstairs." Annabeth grabbed the pillow and tried to take it. Katie groaned and held the pillow over her head tighter. "Come on. Last night wasn't that bad. It just looked like … well, I don't really know what it looked like, but who cares. I've never cared what people think and you've never either, so let's go."

"After last night, I do. I hope something kills me on the way to Olympus."

"Don't say that. Now, really, let's go, Katie!" Annabeth tried to tug of Katie's covers.

"I'm sick. I cannot go."

Groaning, Annabeth stuck her hands in her blonde hair and spun a 360. "Do you really want everyone to think they've gotten to you? Everyone is going to know why you didn't come today." When she got no response, she stalked out of the room slamming the door behind her.

Ten minutes later, Katie heard the door open again and Annabeth jumped on the bed beside her. "Guess we're stuck here all day."

Katie peeked at Annabeth from under the pillow. "Didn't you want to go? You love Olympus."

Annabeth shrugged. "I've seen it before, and they're only doing half the tour today. Tomorrow we will both be on the other half of the tour. Today, we are going to talk."

Katie groaned. "No, go away."

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Get up, Katie. We're not allowed to leave this room because of you. The least you could do is talk to me."

Katie sat up and flung the pillow to the side. "What do you wanna talk about?" she asked in a mock cheerful voice.

"You."

Sighing, Katie leaned over and pressed her face in the pillow. She knew what Annabeth wanted to talk about, but Katie was too embarrassed to talk about it with anyone, let alone Annabeth, who was probably a lot more experienced than Katie was. Avoiding Annabeth's gaze, Katie sat back up. "What about me?"

Annabeth thought about how to word what she was about to say, hoping to the gods she wouldn't offend Katie. She opted to leave out what Travis had told her. For now. "Well, you know, everyone's been really worried about you lately." When Katie nodded her head, she continued. "I just want to know what's wrong and if I can help."

"No." Katie said, not unkindly.

"Really, Katie. If you just need someone to talk to, you can talk to me. I promise I won't tell anyone else the things you tell me." Annabeth rested her hand on Katie's leg.

Katie sighed. "Well, when did you lose your virginity?"

Flustered by the turn in conversation, Annabeth flushed red.

"You don't have to answer, but it was with Percy, right?" Annabeth turned redder. She didn't need to answer. He was her first boyfriend and she wasn't the type to just sleep with anyone. Katie pressed on. "After you two had been together for awhile. After you knew he cared about you and would most likely stay with you no matter what happens?"

Annabeth regained composure and decided to turn the conversation back on to Katie, realization dawning on her. "Is this about having sex with Travis? You lost your virginity to Stoll?" Annabeth was only half shocked. Really, she was shocked Katie wasn't a virgin at all. That was why she had a hard time believing Travis' story.

Katie started tearing up, a blush spreading across her cheeks. She nodded quickly, trying to stop the tears from spilling over. Annabeth reached for Katie's hand. "It's not the worst thing in the world," she tried comforting her.

"My dad and step mom always t-told m-m-me …" she tried to stop her stuttering. "They always told me it was something special and then I went and threw it away. They said I should wait until marriage for a man that would really love me." She paused as if she couldn't bear to say the next part. "And Travis doesn't even like me." Her voice went up an octave and her tears finally flowed freely down her cheeks.

Annabeth scooted closer and hugged Katie as she cried. "I feel so cheap."

"No, no. Katie you are not cheap." She rubbed circles soothingly into Katie's back.

"It hurt so bad." Katie sobbed harder. "Then it was just over and he dropped me off at camp, so he could ditch the car. And the worst part is, it's all my fault."

Annabeth pulled back and gripped Katie's shoulders. "Sure you made a mistake Katie, but you can't hate yourself for it. If everyone hated themselves for every mistake they made, the whole world would be miserable. I'm sorry you had such an awful first time, but I wouldn't be so sure that Travis doesn't like you at all. I mean, the guy has been trying to check up on you for the past couple of weeks even though you were ignoring him. And he has tried to talk to you. And to an extent he does understand that it's his fault you've been acting so not yourself lately. Also, I'm guessing you didn't tell him he was taking your virginity, so …"

Katie cut her off. "It's not fair to him. I've been awful, just thinking about myself. I didn't even really think about the mixed signals I was sending him. I just thought of him as a sex crazed boy with no feelings." She rubbed her hands over her face, shaking her head. "Now I feel bad."

"It'll be fine." Annabeth said, common sense taking over. "He wants to talk to you anyway. When everyone comes back to the hotel tonight, I'll leave you two alone for as long as you need. I can stay with Percy anyway."

Katie suddenly realized two things. She had wondered why Annabeth had wanted to room with her. And she never told _anyone_ about her and Travis. Sure she would apologize to Travis tonight, but now her plans also included a punch or two.

**So I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I'm thinking I'll write one or two more parts and be done with this story. Thanks for reading !**


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